TeleStrat dubious record attempt

[McCreed]

It's nothing flash, but it's worked for me. I had some MIC strat necks that were about 2mm thicker than genuine "F" necks, but the neck pockets on the bodies were correct depth, so rather than routing the pockets deeper, I chose to plane the neck heels down.

Here is the jig:



The whole thing can be clamped to the drill press table when drilling, or slid across the table when using the Safe-T-Planer.

The neck in the jig is already planed, drilled, finished, and fret levelled. Ready to go into the body in my other thread.
I just put it in the jig to demonstrate.

[fender3x]

Maybe it does not have a lot of flash, but it is simple and effective. I have a number of less elegant versions of your jigs, for that reason.

I don't have enough time or patience to make a good looking jig. I don't have enough skill to go without one. So my favorite kind of jig is one I can cobble together quickly using "found objects" in my garage. Case in point is this monstrosity that I just threw together to mod a pickguard. It's made of a piece of old light fixture, a part of circle cutting jig from my router, and some boards my kids broke in Taekwondo, and a few clamps. Ugly as sin, but it works and took about 15 minutes to make
.

[McCreed]

It's called "Yankee Ingenuity". I like it!

[fender3x]

It's called "Yankee Ingenuity". I like it!

Ha! I don't think my ingenuity is going to keep Dan Erlewine up at nights, but I'll take it ;-) What is the Aussie expression for that? I think whatever inventiveness I have comes from growing up in the middle of nowhere, where you figure out how to fix things with what you've got if you expect to get home. I am guessing that's true for a lot of places in Australia too...at least judging by all the jig ideas I've gotten from Aussies ;-)

New question...

I have a bone strat nut that was made by DB a long time ago. The bottom is curved to match the radius of the fingerboard (as is the bottom of the nut-slot in this Warmoth neck). It's too tall, so I need to take some of the height off. Slots have been started in it, so I don't want to take the height off the top, because I'll lose the slots. I can take it off the bottom using sandpaper taped to the top of the fingerboard. The question is how much to talke off?

When firmly in the nut-slot, the top of the nut is abut 4mm above the fingerboard in the center. Frets stand about 0.8mm above the fingerboard. So I am thinking that I should take about 1-1.5 mm off the bottom. Does that seem about right?

[Simon Barden]

It's really a job for nut files, cutting the slots deeper and then fling the top of the nut down to suit. I doubt whether the slots are anything but guide slots, so probably are flat and not angled back towards the headstock.

It still amazes me that you cant get a decent set of nut files for 1/4 of the current price for a set of Hosco ones. But the Chinese just haven't picked up on the the idea of producing anything else but pretty dire nut file sets. They certainly have the technical capability to do so.

If you are going to take off the nut at the bottom, then it really depends on how deep the existing nut slots are - the height of the top of the nut is immaterial at this point.

Best to simply sit the nut in the slot, fit the strings and measure how far above the 1st fret the strings are on the high and low E strings. You'll need to come down by that distance less about 1/64" for the high E and 2/64" for the low E.

Which is why it's easier to use nut files, especially on a curved-base nut.

I'd try and find something cylindrical with a similar radius to the Fender neck (assuming it's a 9.5") and put some sandpaper on that. But it's a lot of sanding.

[fender3x]

As you said, Simon, they are guide slots. I thought about filing the nut-slots to the proper depth and then sanding down the top. Part of the problem is that I don't have a decent set of nut files. This is my first guitar nut. I have done bass nuts, for which I used welding torch nozzle cleaners to cut the slots. Worked great for bass, so I got some for guitar... But for guitar they are, I think, not stiff enough...

https://hazeguitars.com/blog/cheap-alternative-to-guitar-nut-files


I have some cheap thin files, but not sure how I will do the cutting just yet. I have thought about inexpensive Chinese files, but have yet to see a decent review of them. Looking for an alternative to Hosco or StewMac prices.

[Simon Barden]

I haven't found anything significantly cheaper.

Crimson Guitars once sold their own individual nut files so you could make up your own sets, but now they just do the Hosco ones I have.

[McCreed]

You can get a set of 10 nut files (Hosco) in the US for $98.99 with free shipping.
That's a pretty small investment for something that's so useful IMO.

Philly Luthier

I also agree with Simon, that best method is top>down rather than bottom>up.

[Simon Barden]

Alternatively, as you are primarily a bassist and may not need to set up any other guitars, get someone to cut the nut for you professionally as it will be cheaper.

Or ditch that nut and look at other cheap bone nuts you can get from Amazon or eBay. That’s what I use and they've been fine. And they are generally a lot closer to the ideal height. Just measure the slot width first and check dimensions. Avoid any listings without dimensions.

[fender3x]

That captures my dilemma pretty well. I may need to do a couple of nuts for guitars, but it's unlikely that I'll do more than a few for myself. I did *think* about popping for the 100 bucks anyway as McCreed suggested, but the set was sold out, which led me to more thinking which inevitably leads me to more confusion.

So here goes. On closer examination I think the nut may be pre-slotted. I went back to the video that DB made on the pre-slotted nuts that PB was selling at the time, and saw where I got the idea to take some off the bottom:

https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...ead.php?t=4543

I had some correspondence with him about the nut, and his suggestion for the curved bottom was to tape some sand paper to the fretboard to sand off the amount needed, basically as in in the video. I have a bass neck that is the same radius but a little wider that should do reasonably well for this. It's not clear to me why this is such a bad idea?

Meanwhile, I keep seeing references on the internet to the use of feeler gauges with notches cut in them to cut nuts. Lot's of YouTube. Even the guy from Highline guitars refers to the approach (although, of course, he prefers a good set of files). Can't imagine this will be as good as Hosco or SM files. But if it's accurate albeit slow does it seem worth a try? Seems to me that if I treat the DB nut as potentially sacrificial, I have little to lose. Worst case scenario seems to me that I waste some time, and destroy a nut blank.

It is entirely possible that I will end up purchasing decent nut files at some point. Still... if there is a viable alternative that will work for a few nute, and that will not invite unwanted scrutiny of my visa card statements by my acountant/wife...